How much milk powder should a three-year-old baby drink

Babies cannot eat complementary foods after birth, and the best way to feed them is breast milk. However, some mothers are unable to breastfeed their babies due to various reasons of their own. At this time, they can give their babies milk powder, which has the same nutritional value. However, many new mothers do not know how to feed their babies. How much milk powder should babies aged 1-3 years old drink in a day? Is it healthy for babies to drink milk? Let’s take a look at it together below.

Milk and other dairy products (including cheese and yogurt) are also the most important sources of calcium in the daily diet. In addition, some other foods can also provide small amounts of calcium, such as tofu, soy products, beans, and green leafy vegetables such as broccoli and spinach. There are also many calcium-fortified foods.

Therefore, if children aged 1-3 years old drink 500 ml of milk every day, their calcium needs can be met even if they do not eat any other calcium-containing foods. Therefore, the dietary guidelines of the Chinese Nutrition Society recommend that the amount of milk for children aged 1-2 years old be maintained at about 500 ml, and the recommended amount of milk for preschool children is 300-400 ml.

Is drinking too much milk harmful?

Although milk is rich in nutrients, in addition to being rich in calcium, it also contains protein, fat and some vitamins, such as vitamin A and B vitamins. But more milk is not necessarily better. On the contrary, excessive milk intake can bring certain health risks and parenting problems.

Milk is low in iron, and excessive intake of milk will affect children's intake of other iron-rich foods, thereby increasing the risk of iron deficiency anemia. Relevant research evidence shows that if young children drink more than 700 ml of milk per day, they are at risk of iron deficiency anemia.

Seeing this, some people may wonder, is there no risk in drinking iron-fortified formula milk? Actually, it is not. For healthy children over one year old, according to existing research evidence, continuing to drink infant formula does not provide additional health benefits. Therefore, formula is no longer necessary after 12 months of age. In addition, in addition to concerns about iron deficiency anemia, excessive milk intake actually has other health concerns.

Toddlers after one year old begin to integrate into the family diet. If the child continues to drink large amounts of milk every day, a parenting problem parents are likely to encounter is that the child does not like to eat.

Both a child's stomach capacity and energy needs are limited. When a child drinks more than 500-700 ml of milk a day, it is easy to lead to a decrease in the demand for other foods, which will manifest as the child's picky eating or reluctance to eat. An unreasonable diet structure can also lead to insufficient fiber food intake in children, bringing the risk of constipation.

Does that mean we don’t need to worry if the child drinks a lot of milk and his appetite is not affected? Not really. Drinking a lot of milk and eating a lot of other foods also means that the child consumes a lot of excess calories, which may cause the child to be overfed and increase the risk of obesity.

So, for children aged 1-3 years old, 500 ml per day is completely sufficient, not at least 500 ml. What we need to do is encourage young children to consume dairy products in moderation, and actively guide and encourage children to eat a healthy, balanced and diverse diet. Milk is only part of a healthy diet. Don’t over-emphasize the importance of milk or dairy products and ignore the overall situation because you are worried about calcium deficiency. As a professional guide issued by an authoritative organization, the expression should be more professional and accurate, otherwise it will mislead many people.